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Forecast for the Provo Area Mountains

Drew Hardesty
Issued by Drew Hardesty on
Thursday morning, November 21, 2019
Human triggered avalanches may be possible in upper elevation wind drifted slopes today on steep northwest to northeast facing terrain. Sluffing of the new snow is also a concern in steep terrain. Evaluate snow and terrain carefully today.
Remember that traumatic injury is likely in any early season avalanche accident.
If you get caught and go for a ride even in a small slide, hitting rocks and stumps is likely.
We will provide an updates again on Friday, but we are not issuing danger ratings.
We are posting observations every day now, so submit an avalanche or observation HERE. Read observations HERE.
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Special Announcements
The open and closed resorts have different uphill travel policies, which may change daily as they work towards opening for the season. Check with each resort for the current information. Terrain in unopened resorts must be treated as backcountry.
As part of your early season tune-up, consider taking an avalanche class. We have lots of avalanche education classes listed under the Education link in the Menu above.
Weather and Snow
This southern track storm is bringing much needed relief to southern Utah while providing only a few inches of new snow in the north. The Provo mountains have received 4-7" of new (0.6" snow-water-equivalent) thus far and stand to see a few showers today before the upper level low tracks off to the east. Most anemometers seem sheltered from the winds but I suspect the most exposed ridgelines are seeing speeds of 20mph. Temps are in the 20s.
There is about 6" of snow on the shady mid elevation slopes in the Provo area mountains, and I would suspect up to a foot at the upper elevations. Old snow distribution is going to be very important the next few weeks, so be conscious of where coverage is as it forming a weak layer at the ground.
Here is a photo Greg Gagne took yesterday, with Timp in the backcountry showing old snow coverage.
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Avalanche Problem #1
Persistent Weak Layer
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New snow sluffs will be easy to trigger in the higher elevations today, running on the crusts or the weak facets. These loose snow sluffs will run further than expected in steep terrain.
If you're in upper elevation terrain that gets more than about 6 inches of snow on top of the old, weak snow, expect to trigger very sensitive shallow slabs of snow, especially in any wind drifted areas. These slides will be breaking on the persistent weak layer of faceted snow, and can be triggered from a distance. While shallow, again, they could run much further than expected.
Here is a great photo by Greg Gagne of the old snow that was on the ground yesterday, in the Cottonwoods. It is similar to what you will find on upper elevation, shady slopes in the Provo area mountains.
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